Romance novel readers and ereaders have become the perfect couple. Romance is now the fastestgrowing segment of the e-reading market, according to data from Bowker, a research organization.

“Romance,” said Matthew Shear, the executive vice president and publisher of St. Martin’s Press, which releases 40 to 50 romance novels each year, is “becoming as popular in ebooks as it is in the print editions.”

At All Romance, an online retailer that sells only e-books, sales have more than doubled this year.

At Barnes & Noble, America’s largest bookstore chain, William Lynch, the chief executive, said that the company has captured more than 25 percent of the market in romance e-books. Sometime next year, he said, he expects its e-book sales in romance to surpass its print sales.

“Romance buyers are buying, on average, three books a month,” Mr. Lynch said. “That buyer is really, really valuable.”

Dominique Raccah, the publisher and chief executive of Sourcebooks, an independent publisher in Naperville, Illinois, said her romance e-book sales had grown exponentially this year, outpacing any other category.

In the first quarter 8 percent of total romance sales at Sourcebooks were from e-book sales. By the third quarter that number had gone up to 27 percent. (Major trade publishers say e-books now make up about 9 to 10 percent of overall sales.)

The romance genre took off in the 1980s, when it expanded from the typical dreamy or bodice-ripping historical novels to include contemporary, plot-driven stories with characters drawn from real life. (Happy endings, though, are still required.)

In 2009, when more than 9,000 titles were published, romance fiction generated $1.36 billion in sales, giving it the largest share of the overall trade-book market, according to the Romance Writers of America, a trade group.

Nearly 75 million people read at least one romance novel in 2008, the group said.

Romance readers tend to be women ages 31 to 49 who are in a romantic relationship, according to the writers group.

Some publishers are rushing to convert their backlist books into digital form. Harlequin Enterprises has digitized nearly 10,000 titles, dating back to 2002.

“Once a romance reader acquires an author they love, they will often go in and buy all the backlist,” said Allison Kelley, executive director of the Romance Writers of America. “When books were out of stock or out of print, they were hard to find. But e-books have changed all that.”

And there is another reason readers appreciate the shift to digital. Sarah Wendell, the co-author of “Beyond Heaving Bosoms,” says romance novels “are not always something that you are comfortable holding in your hand in public.”

Barb Perfetti, the chief financial officer of All Romance, agrees.

“It’s easier to check out some naughty little title online than in a brick-and-mortar store where your pastor could step up in line behind you,” she said.


By JULIE BOSM